In July 2019, about 1,700 coalminers working for an affiliate of one of the largest coalmine operators in the US, Blackjewel, found their paychecks had bounced. Many were left with bank accounts in the negative while bills and late fees piled up.
Blackjewel then filed for bankruptcy and abruptly shut down its mines in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Wyoming, laying off miners without notice and leaving them without pay for the work they had completed the past two weeks.
This prompted several miners to start a protest in Harlan county, Kentucky, blocking a train full of coal from one of Blackjewel’s mines from leaving until miners were paid what they were owed.
Now, more than three years later, hundreds of miners and their families are still waiting for what they are owed. And, despite the passage of time, the wounds left by their treatment are fresh – as are the economic hardships they endure in parts of the country where working at the mine was often one of the few well-paid jobs around.
Lynne Huskinson worked as a coalminer in Gillette, Wyoming, at one of Blackjewel’s mines when the bankruptcy occurred.
“There are people and vendors who haven’t been reimbursed for the work or product they delivered back from 2019,” said Huskinson. “We were told one thing in the morning and laid off in the afternoon.”
She described problems such as late pay and safety issues while working at the mine.She relied on unemployment while waiting for answers from her employer, ultimately deciding to retire rather than return to work at the same mines once they were sold to different owners.
“I remember the day they laid us off. They called the sheriff to protect the mine so miners wouldn’t go off on some manager or steal their own tools before they left,” she added.
After weeks in federal court, Blackjewel agreed to a $5.1m settlement to cover the back wages miners were owed, but coalminers filed a class action lawsuit to demand the wages and benefits owed to them under federal law, as workers were not provided with 60 days’ notice of their layoffs under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (Warn) Act.
In February 2021, a settlement of $17.3m was reached in the case, but workers have yet to receive any of those funds despite many of the mines having been sold off and reopened under new owners. Other mine sites abandoned due to the bankruptcy are still facing reclamation and cleanup costs that fall to local or state agencies.
Blackjewel investors have also filed their own lawsuit against the former president and CEO Jeffery Hoops, accusing him of stripping the company of assets before the bankruptcy filing to keep funds away from creditors.
Hoops has been building a luxury resort in Milton, West Virginia, that received millions in tax breaks. The golf course had a soft opening in August 2022, while construction of the rest of the resort has undergone significant delays.
Lawsuits filed against Hoops by investors were dismissed, with terms of the dismissals remaining confidential. A court ruling on the lawsuit against United Bank for withholding debt loans to keep Blackjewel operating through its bankruptcy filing is expected to be released sometime in the next few months, according to an attorney representing Blackjewel investors. They declined to comment on the record.
United Bank did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“It’s a joke really,” said Jimmy Justus who worked as a miner for Blackjewel in Virginia before the abrupt layoff that caused his bank to shut down his account. “If it was me doing what Hoops has done I’d be in jail but he’s still living his best life.”
Leanna Parsons’ husband worked at Blackjewel in Lee county, Virginia. He was left with a $2,700 overdraft in his bank account for weeks after being informed that he suddenly no longer had a job. Parsons then found out she was pregnant, and after being unable to find work in the area, they picked up and moved to Alabama for a new coal job.
“[A lot of other] people just don’t have the means to move and a lot of them have already developed the beginning stages of black lung.”
She said many workers in the area were still holding out for compensation they are owed, with some relying on unemployment. Many are too old to move somewhere else to find another coal job.
“We want a straight answer. Is there any money or not? Even if it was a dollar, that dollar means something to everybody who went through that,” added Parsons. “Where’s the money? His resort’s almost done. I just don’t get it. Why haven’t they frozen Jeff Hoops’ accounts? Why does he still have access to all this money?”
